Hello, I am Roach the Coach and I am your guide through the Coaching Chronicles. There are 4,500 species of us cockroaches so we are well placed, across the globe, and across time, to tell you about coaching… Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa, was a famous Post-Impressionist artist, yet few know about his connection with […]

The many rituals of life are fundamental to our development. Coaching is a powerful ally, especially in a career landscape, says Dr Angélique du Toit, visiting fellow, Coaching and Mentoring Research Unit, Sheffield Hallam University Throughout our lives we are faced with transitions that are often marked by relevant celebrations or rituals. These may include […]

In the latest in a series of columns dedicated to mentoring, we look at learning with contextual intelligence. This issue: shaping leadership effectiveness and organisational performance LIS MERRICK Leaders can use mentoring to develop their adaptive capacity through contextual intelligence Is your organisation operating in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world? One of […]

Title The Mentoring Manual: Your Step By Step Guide to Being a Better Mentor Author Julie Starr Publisher Pearson ISBN 978 12920 1789 1 Usefulness 5 stars Julie Starr has followed previous successful publications The Coaching Manual and Brilliant Coaching, with a new title focusing on mentoring. As a mentor myself, I like the clear […]

Title: Leading Change: How Successful Leaders Approach Change Management Author Paul Lawrence Publisher Kogan Page ISBN 978 07494 7168 2 Usefulness 5 stars A few days ago I was catching up on some TV viewing. My attention was caught by Professor Brian Cox’s BBC series The Human Universe. In the episode, ‘Why Are We Here?’ […]

By Lynne Cooper As a client leaves a coaching encounter, they will be reflecting on what they have learnt. It’s a process that can lead to enlightenment, even permanent change. So why don’t all coaches reflect and learn too? Before you rush to the next session, here are some tips on how to ‘book time’ […]

Coaching at Work road-tests eMotive Cards in executive coaching 1) The tool What is it? The eMotive tool is a set of cards that aims to enable coach and client to explore client emotion together, by allowing the client to access and objectify their emotion to make it easy (or easier) to discuss. The eMotive […]

Sarah Gilbert, Michelle Lucas and Eve Turner share their peer supervision research, reflect on their experiences, and raise questions for future debate Imagine our confusion when three qualified supervisors in a peer supervision chain received conflicting views about the appropriateness of this form of reflective practice for coach and supervisor accreditation purposes from three different […]

Internal coaching is thriving in the biggest accounting firms in the UK. In this report, based on a case study by Clive Mann, managing director of Ridler & Co, we examine the development and success of internal coaching in the Big Four accounting firms. What can other larger organisations learn from them?
The ‘Big Four’ accounting firms in the UK: Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC, have all developed their internal coaching into sophisticated, highly credible, well-established functions. Interest in internal coaching is rising among other large organisations, too. According to the latest 2013 Ridler Report, 79 per cent of large organisational respondents expected to see an increase in internal coaching in the next three years, with 39 per cent expecting a large increase.

That interest is being driven by factors, including internal coaches’ deep understanding of their organisation’s business context/political environment, the contribution that internal coaching makes to the organisation’s coaching culture and the relative value for money of internal versus external coaching in context of the increasing demand for executive coaching.

Clive Mann, managing director of Ridler & Co, says: “Over the course of the last seven years of researching trends in the use of executive coaching in the Ridler Report, it became clear that the Big Four accounting firms were doing a huge amount of executive coaching and had built up considerable expertise, especially in the provision of internal coaching. The credibility of internal coaching has become extremely well established in these firms, with full-time internal coaches working with some of their most senior individuals.

“The 2013 Ridler Report indicates that many organisations in the UK and internationally, intend to expand their use of internal coaching as the demand for coaching increases. I felt that these organisations could learn from the Big Four’s many years of experience and lessons learned. The idea to write a case study had its genesis when I met with the Big Four at the EMCC UK’s Professional Services Network in 2013.

“The Big Four have been very open, collaborative and generous in sharing their internal coaching approaches in the case study, for the benefit of the wider community.”

We know that trust is essential in coaching, but can you define it? The concept is deceptively simple, and its meaning becomes murkier the deeper we delve. John Blakey explains why trustworthiness is a much more valuable concept Coaching professional bodies are unanimous in their agreement that trust is essential for an effective coaching relationship. […]